The Valley Transportation Authority approved putting a sales tax measure on the November ballot after a nearly two-hour debate Thursday night over how to cover the cost of someday running BART trains from Fremont to the South Bay.

If two-thirds of voters approve, the measure would raise the sales tax in Santa Clara County by one-eighth of a cent. The increase would remain in effect for 30 years, but it would not be collected until the Federal Transit Administration agrees to contribute $750 million to help build the $6 billion, 16.1-mile BART extension.

Although county residents are already paying a half-cent sales tax for BART and other transit projects, supporters say more money is needed to operate the future BART line. They cite shortfalls in tax collections and the need to show federal officials that the VTA has money to operate BART without cutting current transit services.

But the financial troubles have reignited debate over whether BART is a good investment and whether it will ever carry as many riders as projected, 98,000 a day.

The tax was approved in a 9-3 vote.

“The entire (transit system) is made better because of BART,” said San Jose City Councilman Sam Liccardo, a VTA board member. “This is a small price to be paying.”

Nearly 40 people spoke on the tax proposal, with a slight majority in favor of bringing BART to San Jose, including former Santa Clara County Supervisor Rod Diridon.

“You can’t get a tax for light rail,” he said. “You can’t get a tax for buses. You can’t get a tax for highways. But you can get a tax for BART.”

Critics do not concur

Not everyone agreed.

Doug McNea, president of the Silicon Valley Taxpayers’ Association, criticized the measure, saying, “The VTA is a taxpayers’ sink hole.”

And Greg Perry, a former VTA board member, opposed the tax, saying, “You don’t have enough money to build this project,” even with the tax.

The tax proposal comes at a time when the economy is voters’ chief worry – and at a time when multiple tax and bond measures will be on the ballot.

County voters also will be asked to pass an $840 million bond measure to pay for earthquake retrofitting at Valley Medical Center. San Jose voters will be asked to renew, with modifications, two phone taxes that together generate nearly $50 million a year to support critical services such as the 911 emergency dispatch system. Earlier this week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger floated the idea of temporarily raising the state sales tax by 1 percent for three years to cover the state’s massive $15.2 budget deficit.

And a $10 billion statewide bond will be on the ballot to begin construction of a high-speed rail line from Los Angeles to the Bay Area.

The earliest groundbreaking could occur on the BART extension is 2013, with the line opening maybe five years later. But those dates are not firm and depend on nearly $1.5 billion in federal and state funds for construction.

The VTA says the BART tax would raise $42 million to $50 million a year to cover operating and maintenance costs. The sales tax now is 8.25 percent.

The project has long been dogged by controversy. Three years ago the Federal Transit Administration put the extension on its “not recommended” list, and a grand jury advised against building the line. The transit administration also told the VTA that until the agency could come up with a funding source to cover daily operating and maintenance costs, the project had little chance of getting $750 million in federal assistance.

The proposed sales tax would fund only one project, BART, unlike past measures thatincluded dozens of projects, from road widenings to transit extensions.

This will be the second time voters have faced tax measures to pay for BART. Eight years ago, by a 71 percent margin, they approved a half-cent increase that is expected to bring in $8.7 billion by 2036, nearly $2 billion less than originally forecast.

Trolley project at risk

That shortfall means many of the nearly two dozen projects included in the 2000 tax measure may not get built. At great risk if BART moves ahead in any form is a light-rail extension to Eastridge Mall.

That extension would be short, just 2.6 miles, but costly at $334 million. And ridership is estimated to be only slightly more than 2,000 a day. As low as that is, VTA General Manager Michael Burns said he believes the estimate may be too high.

Pre-engineering work is almost done on the trolley line, and a decision must be made late this year on whether to proceed with construction.

Gary Richards has covered traffic and transportation in the Bay Area as Mr. Roadshow since 1992. Prior to that he was an assistant sports editor at the paper from 1984-1987. He started his journalism career as a sports editor in Iowa in 1975.

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